EU Proposes New Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation Review

The European Commission launches a call for evidence on reviewing EU rules on alternative fuels infrastructure as EV adoption accelerates and hydrogen charging networks develop.

Europe's Charging Challenge: EU Reviews Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Rules

The European Commission launched a call for evidence on reviewing the EU's Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation — known as AFIR — with a feedback period running from March 23 to April 20, 2026. The review reflects the Commission's recognition that the regulation, which established mandatory targets for the deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, hydrogen refuelling stations, and alternative fuel bunkering for maritime and aviation, needs updating to reflect the pace of actual market development and the evolving mix of technologies reaching commercial maturity.

AFIR has driven significant progress in European EV charging infrastructure since its adoption, with a network of fast chargers along major Trans-European Network corridors developing substantially faster than many industry observers expected five years ago. However, the regulation's implementation has revealed several gaps and mismatches between where chargers have been deployed and where they are most needed, particularly for long-distance travel in Eastern Europe and rural areas of Western Europe where commercial incentives for private charging investment are weakest.

The hydrogen charging infrastructure component of AFIR has progressed more slowly, reflecting the broader challenges facing the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle market in competing with battery electric vehicles whose costs have fallen faster than almost any forecast suggested. Several member states have raised questions about whether AFIR's hydrogen targets remain realistic and whether resources might be better directed toward battery infrastructure that is already serving a much larger and faster-growing vehicle fleet. The Commission's review is expected to address these questions without abandoning the technology-neutral principle that has characterised EU alternative fuels policy.